US vehicle sales numbers are in for 2017 and so this week we’ve captured and compared light and electric vehicle sales, growth and market share since 2011.

For the first time in US history, sales of EVs – both plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) – finished above the 1 percent market share level for the entire year. While EV sales increased 26% in 2017 over 2016, overall light vehicle sales actually declined by 0.71%.

Even if overall light vehicle sales had remained flat in 2017, EV sales would still have been well above 1 percent at 1.14%. And while the 26% growth rate for EV sales was quite solid in light of declining overall auto sales, 2017’s growth was well below the 36.6% increase in 2016 over 2015.

Since 2011, nearly 765,000 EVs have been sold in the US which is 0.69% of the total of more than 111 million light passenger vehicles sold during that period.

EV Sales Source: Inside EVs Sales Scorecard

Across the board forecasts for 2018 US auto sales are lower and tend to range from 16.7 to 16.8 million units. If we go with 16.75 million sales for 2018 the US would need to reach 335,000 in EV sales to reach the 2% mark. With a few more new models expected to arrive in 2018, continued increases across most existing EVs and significant deliveries of the Tesla Model 3 expected, EV sales should end 2018 well north of 300,000. To reach 335,000 in EV sales, Tesla would likely have to deliver close to 100,000 Model 3s.